Islam and Tawhid

This discourse reflects upon the core aspects of the Islamic unveilings and path, the speaker seeks to elaborate and emphasize a living experience of the varying dimensionalities and modes for the traveler on the path of Oneness. Tawhid is a central concept in Islam. It is the unequivocal statement of the oneness of reality. The speaker explores the Qur’anic declaration of a total, single and absolute truth that transcends the world; a unique and indivisible reality, entirely independent of creation, out of which complexity, multiplicity emanate and return. The Qur’anic cosmology is introduced as a model of understanding the unitive nature of reality at its various levels, or the various levels of Tawhid. In this talk, Shaykh Fadhlallah examines each of these; Tawhid Af’al - the unity of actions, Tawhid al Sifat - the unity of attributes, Tawhid ad Dhat - the unity of essence. The Speaker presents the appropriate way in which one should relate and understand this model and critically how to integrate this map into a living process. The speaker continues an elaboration on key elements around this integral work; the necessity of the various virtues necessary for the traveler on the path - honesty, authenticity in reflection; the meaning of worship and the reality of Salat in its application and fulfillment of its inner dynamics; sincerity and the practice of remembrance dhikr. What the purification of mind and heart means for the seeker of truth. The Speaker further shares various key insights regarding experiential dynamics of varying states and stages of people straddling the path of oneness, surmised in the following key excerpt: “You can do it quietly, you don’t have to tell people, you don’t have to show off. Nothing changes! Be as you are, just do the salaat! And then dhikr: remember it is lā ʾilāha ʾillā llāh. No need to change and say, ‘I am now a different person!’ You are not. You are the same idiot you have been all along, it’s just that your channel to Allah is clearly open, and you recognize that higher Reality. Prostrate yourself and you will come to see that there is nowhere where Allah is not.”